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A press release from our friends at SNL's excellent Mining on Top: Africa, which we attended this week - write-ups for that to come very shortly. But if you missed the conference, all is not lost - see below and/or click here to register...

“Zuma told parliament on Tuesday: “I know and appreciate the anxiety of those who are affected. However, it would be inappropriate for me to just release the report without applying my mind sufficiently.”

Interesting press release from t Asian Development Bank popped up in the feeds recently, as the Bank pledged to provide loan assistance of up to $65 million for a new private sector hydropower project in Pakistan which will “continue the country’s drive to overcome power shortages, and strengthen its energy security.”

After facing significant pressure to disassociate itself from a controversial Australian coal project some widely characterised by naysayers as a 'carbon bomb,’ Standard Chartered bank has said it will ‘go no further’ with the project until it had examined its environmental credentials.

Standard Chartered has been advising Indian outfit Adani on the construction of the Carmichael mine.

Bad news for transparency in Azerbaijan (tho§ugh hopefully, in the longer term, a step foprward), as we receive the following press release courtesy of the Extractives Industries Transparency initiative.

At Hong Kong Mines & Money 2015 Mr Roger Barrat from Korea Business Consultants talked about the pleasant surprises he has found in North Korea, which in his view is done down by negative perception in the western media. The good news is that it has a disciplined work force, it’s rich and the new leadership is trying to build a new type of economy. Barrat will be leading several ‘missions’ to Korea this year including to the ‘G2” gold project he is somehow involved in.

The first investment panel settled in during day one of Mines & Money Hong Kong 2015. When asked: ‘What are the best regions for mining investment?’ these worthies endeared themselves to the Hong Kong/Asian conference by picking districts such as Nevada, Chile and Namibia.

On the subject of negative risk the Philippines and Indonesia were repeatedly brought up as being ‘difficult’ countries to operate in over the last few years, although there is hope from one of the panel that the domestic regimes are ‘learning’.